I Had a Major Beauty Moment at the Theater

Sure, Hedwig has his own line of nail polishes, and there are plenty of shows, on Broadway and off, with wonderful hair and makeup, but I recently went to see Queen of the Night, and in addition to shattering every idea I had about what a play could be, it uses braids, liner, and more in ways I'd never imagined.

Queen of the Night could technically be described as dinner theater. It combines performance, food, magic, dance, burlesque, and acrobatics. But before you get all "oh, I've been to something like that," let me set the record straight: No, you have not. (Unless you wore a gown and carved a suckling pig for a table of strangers. And then traded food off your plate to another table for half a dozen lobster claws.)

The story. It's loosely based on the characters from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. The Queen is throwing a debutante ball for her daughter, Pamina. It's a dark, promiscuous, and lavish affair, and you are a guest.

The setting. The theater, if you can call it that, is located at the Paramount Hotel, in the restored Diamond Horseshoe nightclub. There is a bar and communal dining tables. Your table is presented with a whole, spit-roasted suckling pig (head intact, with an apple in its mouth), a cage (think giant, decorative birdcage) full of lobsters, or a humongous platter of beef ribs. Picky eaters be warned: You eat what you are served, unless you want to run around the room and trade another table for a bite of their main course. As for dessert, the actors actually feed that to you. It's equal parts delicious, discomfiting, and seductive.

__The look.__The performers do all their own hair and makeup. The looks came straight off the runway of fashion designer Thom Browne, who also designed the costumes for the show. There are butlers with elaborate styles that incorporate twists, braids, and pin curls. They wear dark—very dark—smoky eyes with out-there golden brows. Another group, the femme fatales, have bright-blue pencil smudged over their lids to match their blue costumes. The Queen has her hair in a tight braid pinned underneath a mask and crown until her final solo, when her hair is completely out—long and wildly beautiful, with the help of hair extensions. Not surprisingly, she has glittery lids (and phenomenally fluttery false lashes) to complement the gems she wears head to toe. All this detail is on display because the performers get very close, grazing your hands, touching your cheeks, possibly even pinning you up against a wall or whipping you. (Gently, I promise. No one is harmed.) You may even find yourself adorned. Performers can be found placing small shiny jewels on guests' faces as they arrive.

In case it isn't already apparent, there aren't enough adjectives to describe Queen of the Night. But if I had one final suggestion, it would be to experience it for yourself before the show ends in mid-March.
